Thursday, September 27, 2012

Men for Miss

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Here at school I get to work and know a lot of wonderful
people. These people teach me so much, and in everything I learn I remember where
I am from. I was inspired to write these pieces by my boss, and the Area
Director (a professional who lives on campus and oversees the dorm life,
insuring safety and wellbeing of residents): Logan Thurnauer.

He expressed to me how strongly he feels that for rape
culture, domestic violence, and sexual assault to end, we have to engage men.
On another occasion he defined a term I had always heard but never understood.
He said: “Being an ally means taking responsibility for something you may not
have done, because it is an injustice.” To me, in the case of men supporting women in the struggle
against rape culture, this means not all people (men specifically may feel prosecuted) are guilty of causing harm to women. Rape culture, violence
against women, sexual assault, these are all big things that as an individual one may not be responsible for. What a person can take responsibility for in being an ally is the fact that this
happens, it is an injustice, and if you are a man you may have more power in this
society to do something about it.

Piecing these things together I realized that the way that
men can be involved in this dialogue is by being an ally to women. Allies can
support women through education and advocation. To understand the problem puts
us in a better place to defeat it, and one voice can make a big difference.

As a way to help me better understand the part men play in
the social ills facing women I am reading“The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love” by bell hooks. bell
hooks is a woman who considers men to be a crucial part of the feminist
movement for equality. It caught my eye when I saw Logan reading it, and he quickly loaned it to me. Each week I will be posting about a chapter of this
book: the main ideas and a review of the concepts.

bell hooks starts off her introduction saying: "The male bashing that was so intense when contemporary feminism first surfaced more than thirty years ago was in part the rageful cover-up of the shame women felt not because men refused to share their power but because we could not seduce, cajole, or entice men to share their emotions -- to love us." Does anything come to mind when you hear this quote? How does this quote highlight the difference between men and women? What do you think of feminism? I'd love for any responses submitted as a reply to this blog or emailed to us at missmovement907@gmail.com. Next Thursday we'll explore the introduction and first chapter and the concepts of patriarchy and male love.

MISS E-mail

MISS resources

The MISS Blog is our main source for the organization. The authors are Jacqui Lambert and Hannah Atkinson but we encourage people to contact us to submit a post of their own, too. Our blog revolves around influential women of Alaska, cultural and racial identity, sexual education, and advice on how men can be allies. Please do not hesitate to provide us with your insight whether it's through comments or e-mails. We hope to strengthen our resources and improve our organization with the help from the audience.

-On Sundays, a post is written about a writing workshop for an event called Race Monologues and provides a piece that was asked to be written. This is a continual written piece and it works towards one final story of racial identity. We encourage a reply with your own pieces.

-On Mondays, we feature a nominated influential woman who is making a difference in Alaska today. We tell their story and provide a quote and song we hope you take into consideration throughout the week. We ask for your nominations and description of reasoning in order to have a wide variety of women from across the state who are influential to the audience.

-On Thursdays, a chapter review is posted. The book that is being reviewed discusses how men can be allies and support the movement rather than seeing it as a female-dominant approach to ruling men out. We believe men also play a role in making a difference and have no intentions to ruling them out. Since MISS is run by two women, we are seeking more insight from men on how to involve them more. Please contact us with your comments and suggestions.